


Hung out to dry

by sarcasmismyweapon



Series: Learning Curve [9]
Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Adorable, Chunin, Cute, Funny, Iruka gets a surprise visitor, Jutsu Gone Wrong, Life lessons fic, Missions Gone Wrong, Other, Sarcasm, friends - Freeform, irritated chunin, stupid teammates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 02:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16441280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: Iruka comes home from a disastrous mission only to find that his apartment has been invaded while he's been away.





	Hung out to dry

**Author's Note:**

> So it's the week of Halloween and since I won't be posting on Halloween I figured today would be a good day to give you a few treats XD.

Kakashi tilted his head, listening intently to see if the noise he’d just heard would come again. There. Sighing the Anbu rose from his comfortable position on the ledge he’d taken to resting on. Making his way across the room, Kakashi smirked beneath his mask when he found the cause of the noise. Iruka. The Chunin was presently trying to get out of his flak jacket, the sopping wet article of clothing was being resistant to such an action as it clung to the teens body. 

“Having problems?”

“FUCK!” Iruka spun around startled at the sudden voice in his apartment, the teen collapsed to the floor in a heap only to groan when he saw what or rather who had caught him unaware.

“Language.”

Glaring up at the Anbu, the teen muttered. “Get out.”

Kakashi sighed. “I’m going to ignore that request simply because I know that it was made when you weren’t thinking clearly.”

Iruka snorted even as he remained sitting on the floor, making a few small puddles as his clothing dripped onto the floor.

“So what happened?”

Iruka ignored the Anbu even as he reached to try and get his vest off once more, Kakashi didn’t take it to heart. It was quite apparent that the Chunin was frustrated, if he was to hazard a guess it was more than just the present dampness the Chunin was experiencing. Crouching down to be more on the same level as Iruka, Kakashi hummed as he took in the Chunin’s attire.

“I know you can walk on water now, so I’m going to guess that this was either because of rain...Which we haven’t seen any of OR a water jutsu.”

Iruka tilted his head up towards him, his gaze still hardened by his present level of frustration. “Go away.”

Sighing Kakashi shook his head, disregarding the teens request once more in favor of asking. “Are you okay? Besides the water that is.”

Iruka huffed as he struggled with the zipper to his vest. Kakashi watched the Chunin carefully, only to reach out and swat the teen’s fingers away. Effortlessly yanking the boys zipper down and thus freeing him of his vest.

Iruka sighed. “Thanks.”

“Your fingers are frozen, it happens.”

Iruka gave a nod as he shrugged out of his vest, the wet plop it made upon hitting the floor had Iruka huffing in annoyance. Staring down at himself the teen finally spoke in a more passive tone. “What are you doing here?”

“No matter what you might think, I really don’t have many social engagements on my calendar.” Kakashi joked. “I knew you were coming home tonight and wanted to see how it went.” The Anbu glanced up and down at the Chunin. “I’m not going to ask that stupid of a question.”

Iruka snorted. “Thanks.”

“Let’s get you up, a hot shower will help stave off the hypothermia.”

Iruka tilted his head up to smirk at the Anbu. “The sad thing is I’m not sure if you’re joking.”

Wolf nodded. “The sadder thing is I’m not sure I was either. Up.” Helping Iruka to his feet, Kakashi ushered the teen down the hallway to where his bathroom was. “I’ll make you some tea.”

Iruka gave a silent nod, heading into the bathroom and kicking the door closed behind himself.

Kakashi shook his head at the teens actions, he was curious as to how Iruka had come to his present state. Still the Anbu wasn’t stupid enough to press the issue right then, best to let the teen get warmed up before interrogating him.

 

*******

 

Iruka stood underneath the hot spray of water, the chill that ate at his bones was a throbbing iciness that didn’t seem to be relenting no matter how long he stood beneath the scolding blast of water. Iruka shivered, the tremor traveling all down his spine. Huffing in annoyance, Iruka stepped further into the scolding spray from the shower. Ignoring that he now had hot water spraying all down his body, ducking his head to keep it out of his face as he stood there soaking up the heat. His mind couldn’t help but travel back to the reason he was presently freezing despite the hot environment he was in. His teammate was an idiot.

Iruka hadn’t known it was possible to screw up your own jutsu, but apparently it was a thing because that was what happened to them. Iruka and the other shinobi had nearly frozen because their ‘ _ smart _ ’ teammate thought he could deal with their opponents by using his favorite ice jutsu. Who would have thought that doing Ice in an enclosed space would lead to subzero temperatures?

Iruka was only thankful that he’d been able to use his own jutsu to keep their enemies glued in their positions while they made a hasty escape. Iruka didn’t care if they froze to death, all he’d cared about was getting out of the damn canyon and away from all that ice. Of course the amount of ice and moisture that had clung to them had quickly soaked them all through, Iruka and his other teammate had resorted to giving the idiot death glares the entire way home. Soaking wet, shivering and mad the group made it back to the village in one piece. Other than the hypothermia that is. 

Sighing Iruka reached out to turn off the water, it was starting to go cold and even after using all the hot water Iruka hadn’t managed to warm himself up. If he hadn’t managed to do that in this long, there wasn’t much of a chance for it changing with the water turning cold. Iruka stood in the shower, shivering a moment before getting the energy to reach out and snatch up his towel. Drying himself off was a hurried and half assed job as his hands shook, his fingers still feeling stiff and frozen. With the majority of the moisture mopped up, Iruka quickly shrugged into some warmer clothes. Not a hard feet considering he’d been drenched in ice cold water not ten minutes ago. 

Taking a passing look in the mirror of himself, Iruka snorted. He still looked like a drowned rat, but to be fair he still felt like one. At least the mirror didn’t lie. Shaking his head Iruka made his way out of the bathroom, wincing when his bare feet recoiled from the cold hardwood floor. Taking a breath, Iruka steadied himself against the change in temperature. Walking calmly down the hall to see if Wolf had truly made him tea, he wouldn’t put it past the Anbu to have done something else. The Anbu had a nasty habit of doing things to the extreme, something Iruka had found out the hard way on more than one occasion. 

 

****

 

Kakashi made good on his word, waiting to make sure Iruka wouldn’t need anything else. The sound of the shower starting had the Anbu nodding, heading into the teen’s kitchen Kakashi located one of Iruka’s favorite tea’s and set to work on preparing it. Boiling water and steeping the leaves carefully, he added a small touch of milk and a bit of sugar as Kakashi had come to learn over the years how much of a sweet tooth Iruka had. Having finished the teen’s tea, Kakashi glanced around to see if there was something simple he could make for the kid to eat. Kakashi was by no means a cook, he agreed with the rest of their makeshift family in that regards. His skill set was more towards the hunting end of preparing a meal rather than preparing it. Thankfully they had Himiko, the fact that she’d taught the boys how to cook wasn’t half bad either. Ordinarily Kakashi would have just let Iruka tool around for his own meal, but with the present state of the teen Kakashi felt it might be too much to ask for the teen to be self sustaining that night.

Twisting around when he heard the teen shuffle into the room, Kakashi smirked beneath his mask for all of a second. Sighing when he saw the teen shivering, the Anbu muttered.

“Still can’t get warm huh?”

Iruka shook his head.

“Well try this.” He offered the hot cup of tea to the teen, Iruka graciously accepted it. Blowing on the steaming cup a moment, then taking a tentative sip of the hot liquid. Iruka pulled a face, causing Kakashi to tilt his head. Iruka beat him to answering his next question.

“It’s hot.”

Snorting Kakashi replied. “That’s generally how one enjoys tea.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “I mean it’s really hot.”

“Your core temperature is below normal, means everything feels hotter than it really is.”

Iruka shook his head. “Shower wasn’t warm enough.”

“Yeah, well I can’t help with that. The tea thing I can help with, let it cool a bit and it won’t be as startling to your body. In the meantime we should get you wrapped up in a blanket.”

Iruka sighed, blowing the trail of steam from his cup away from him. Kakashi didn’t bother to comment on the boys present mood, instead ushering the boy back into the living room. Getting Iruka settled on the couch, one of the boys blankets carefully laying across his lap as the teen took a sip of his tea.

“So...You feeling up to telling me what happened?”

Iruka hummed even as he shivered beneath the blanket Wolf had so kindly wrapped around him. “My teammate was an idiot.”

“How so?”

“Ice jutsu, small enclosed space and enemy shinbi do not a great combo make.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Not generally. Why’d he use an ice jutsu?”

Iruka glared back at him.

“Ah. Right.” Kakashi nodded. “Idiot teammate.”

Iruka gave a nod.

“Anyone get hurt...besides the hypothermia.”

Iruka shook his head. “A few scrapes and bruises, but no.” The boy took another leisurely drink of the hot liquid. “Thanks for the tea.”

Kakashi chuckled as he sat on the edge of the boys coffee table, ignoring the put out look he got for using the furniture that way. “My pleasure. You should eat something.”

Iruka shook his head. “I just want to get warm.”

“And eating will help your body do that naturally.”

Iruka sent him an annoyed look, more than likely because he was being forced to do something he didn’t want to do. Namely exert energy he didn’t have. 

“I could go get you ramen.” The Anbu stated in a peace offering.

Iruka snorted. “Thanks, but no.” He shook his head. “I really just want to get warm and sleep.”

Kakashi sighed. “You need to-”

“What are you doing here?”

Looking afronted with just his eyes, Wolf replied. “I already told you, I knew you were going to be home and wanted to see how things went.”

Iruka snorted. “Bull. There was no way for you to know when I’d be home. We had a three day window.”

Kakashi remained silent.

“Wolf...Have you been dropping by to see if I was home?” Iruka smirked.

“I do have a job.” The Anbu countered.

“Uh huh and you just happening to stop by is because?” Iruka continued to push the Anbu into admitting what he’d really been up to.

Kakashi refused to admit that he’d been crashing at the kid’s apartment waiting for his return. There were just some things you shouldn’t admit to. Luckily for him, Kakashi had no problem deflecting.

“Drink your damn tea kid.”

Iruka chuckled even as he went to take another drink of his tea. Swallowing carefully, the Chunin muttered. “I’m glad to see you too.”

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask.

“Are you staying over?” Iruka glanced over the top of his tea cup.

“Hmm?”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “Are you staying over or do you have somewhere to be?”

Kakashi shrugged. “I have nowhere to be, but what makes you think that I was planning to crash at your place where I’d be required to wear my mask 24/7?”

Iruka stared him down a moment. “Seriously?”

Kakashi nodded, sticking to his guns.

“I don’t know, maybe because you’ve done it on numerous occasions. Least of all being because you were bored.” Iruka smirked. “Not that you need a reason to crash here, it’s just nice to know when you’re planning on dropping by.”

“You only say that because you don’t appreciate me appearing out of the blue.”

Iruka glared back at him. “I fell on the floor because you scared me.” The Chunin hostily pointed out.

“You should always be aware of your surroundings.”

Iruka glared harder. “I was soaking wet, shivering and couldn’t even get the damn zipper to my own vest down without help. I really don’t think I was up to the task of monitoring my surroundings.”

Kakashi had to hand it to the kid, he had a point. “First off. Language, secondly I think you’re severely overestimating the number of times I come over and subsequently frighten you.”

“your point is?” Iruka drawled.

“My point.” Kakashi muttered sourly. “Is that wearing my mask 24/7 isn’t very comfortable.”

“So is that a no?”

“No.”

Iruka frowned. “Did you mean yes?”

“Did you mean no?” The Anbu shot back.

Groaning Iruka muttered. “Stay, don’t stay I really don’t care right now.” Iruka drained the rest of his tea before rising from the couch. The short trip to the kitchen relieved him of his tea cup and from there the teen headed towards his bedroom. The lack of Anbu had the Chunin believing that Wolf had already left, more than likely because of his poor disposition. It was therefore surprising to find the Anbu leaning against the window seal in his bedroom. Iruka smirked. “You know I have a spare cot right?”

“How many times have you told me that?”

“As many times as you’ve crashed here.” Iruka shrugged.

“And how many times have I slept on it?”

Iruka sighed. “Good night Wolf.”

Smirking to himself, Kakashi replied. “Goodnight Iruka.”

Iruka shut off the bedroom light, traversed the darkened room to his bed and then proceeded to fall into it with a groan. The small chuckle he heard through the darkness had Iruka muttering.

“Shut up.”

“It’s funny.”

“It’s really not...It’s depressing if anything.”

Iruka heard the Anbu shift himself around in the window seal. “You might think so, but I find it cute.”

Iruka huffed. “I’m tired and my bed feels good, sue me.”

“Mah, I promise not to tease you anymore.”

“It’s not nice to lie.”

Kakashi snorted at the boys tired retort. “Go to sleep kid.”

“M’not a kid.” Came the drowsy reply from the Chunin.

The Anbu raised a brow even though Iruka couldn’t see it, Kakashi held his tongue when it appeared that Iruka was already settling into sleep. Idly thinking to himself. ‘You’ll always be a kid to me.’

  
  



End file.
